Watch Bengals draft or join wife in delivery room? One fan was on the clock.
Note to Coach’s Box readers: This is my weekly Sports Fan Coach column for the Cincinnati Enquirer and Cincinnati.com.
By Mike Bass
mbass@mikebasscoaching.com
Editor’s Note: This is a weekly column from former sports reporter and editor Mike Bass. Bass will be contributing to The Enquirer by offering advice for sports fans, athletes and youth sports parents and coaches through a weekly Q&A. You can reach him at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or on Twitter @SportsFanCoach1.
Behold the most memorable NFL Draft Day for one Cincinnati Bengals fan.
And maybe of any Bengals fan.
“Wife being led up the stairs about to give birth and I'm in the foyer waiting for the @Bengals to hand in the card,” @IrelandsWhodey tweeted to me. “I can still see her giving me the side eye👺. …”
What would you do? This is 2017. Your Bengals are drafting ninth in the first round. You were waiting and waiting and waiting for this moment for months. OK, for both of these moments. You have to make a decision.
So do the Bengals.
“They were on the clock and she was being led up the stairs to the delivery ward,” @IrelandsWhodey tweeted. “We're both sweating (for dif reasons obviously) I'm sitting in the foyer watching my phone waiting for the pick to come in. Wife is looking back over her shoulder at me wondering wtf is he doing, glued to his phone at 2.30am in the morning. Felt like an eternity but the pick finally came in as she hit the top of the stairs, I legged it up after her telling her the great news, ITS JOHN ROSS, the speedster (partying face emoji). Baby arrived and Ross soon departed (man shrugging emoji).”
If you are a diehard fan, you get all this.
There are no drafts in sports like the NFL Draft, and there is no day in the NFL offseason like Day 1 of the NFL Draft. Which is why you as a fan can’t wait for Thursday.
Every player drafted could be the next standout or bust, and it is such wonderful and painful drama. Your team might have filled some needs in free agency, but here comes a chance to select the player or players who can help define the franchise for years, for better or worse.
The experts will tell you it is not fair to judge a draft until a few years later, but they will do it anyway because this is why they are there and this is what we crave and enjoy. Guessing. Second-guessing. Analyzing. Debating.
What fun is it to wait? Do you as a fan wait until a season is over before cheering or booing? Of course not. You judge on today, you judge on potential, you judge on what you think, you judge on what you would have done.
The first round is the marquis round, the one that produces the most Hall of Famers. If you are an allegiant fan, you spend all offseason looking forward to this pick. If you are an allegiant fan of a bad team, you start looking ahead to the pick before the last season ends. If you are a Bengals fan, you have obsessed about this since quarterback Joe Burrow’s season-ending knee injury.
Which is why, when I asked Bengals fans on Twitter about their favorite and least favorite draft memories, @KissMySass0606 tweeted, “Don't have a worst but if @Bengals pick anyone other than Sewell first this year THAT will be it! Do the right thing - protect JoeyB!!!”
Which is why many a Bengals fan has projected offensive tackle Peneii Sewell as the perfect choice for the team’s No. 5 overall pick next week. And a number of mock drafts agree. Others see the Bengals opting for wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
Of course, the last time the Bengals drafted a wide receiver in the first round, the guy caught just 51 catches over four seasons and wanted out of Cincinnati. He signed with the Giants last month as a free agent.
In case you forgot, that was John Ross. @IrelandsWhodey won’t forget it— or his wife’s reaction when he raced upstairs at 2:30 a.m. to deliver the news about Ross’ selection as she prepared to deliver the baby.
“She was less than impressed I'd have to say, who could blame her!!!,” @IrelandsWhodey tweeted. “It was a girl and and we have our third due in the middle of September. Please dont let it be on a Sunday evening! 🤞🤭”
The Bengals could be playing.
Remember to email Bass at mbass@mikebasscoaching.com or reach out to him @SportsFanCoach1 on Twitter if you want to be included next week. His website is MikeBassCoaching.com.